Primary tabs

Blog Posts

The decision by MSNBC and its owner GE (Comcast is currently finalizing the purchase of MSNBC) to suspend Keith Olbermann without pay signals the start of a purge of liberal-leaning commentators. With an activist right-wing Supreme Court, corporate media owners can, without fear of successful legal suits, prune from their trees anybody who speaks for limits on corporate power and against the redistribution of wealth upwards. With a blood red House of Representatives, the masters of media know that no legislative response to their fiat will be forthcoming. Some have questioned the decisio

I read with great interest and admiration David Seaton's post here: "Observations of and on the Rich". Seaton contrasts the relatively modest and even awed reactions of some Americans to their financial success with the self-satisfaction and arrogance of others. Seaton identifies correctly the latter group as the backbone of the reactionary movement that is destroying our world. Seaton describes the neo-fascists as:

Last night on Inside Washington, Evan Thomas, the "moderate" on the panel said that while there's little doubt that allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire on everybody is going to hurt the economy, it's necessary because the government needs the money. We certainly do need the money as the budget deficit is now into the double-digits. But are Thomas and every right-wing pundit, blogger, and columnist who state with the absolute confidence of a used car salesman correct that tax cuts for the wealthy will hurt small businesses and the economy?

I must admit that my claim in an early blog thread that the real price of energy has not changed in 50 years was incorrect. Over the past 60 years, the price of a gallon of gasoline adjusted for inflation has actually fallen significantly. Thus, any argument that our country's economic strength in the 50s and 60s was due to cheap energy should be reconsidered.

I just returned to Carmel after a lovely weekend in the city by the bay. From a gastronomic standpoint, this may have been the best three days I have spent in San Francisco as meals at Hunan Home in Chinatown and Luna Park in the Mission District were outstanding and very reasonably priced. Both were identified via patient (but not time-consuming) sifting of online reviews. Even the brat at AT&T Park as well as (of course) the Anchor Steam on tap there were excellent, although neither was reasonably priced.

While living in suburban D.C., I decided to enter the progressive talk radio business in large part because of two hosts - Stephanie Miller and Ed Schultz. I heard both in early 2004 on WWRC a weak station transmitting from Silver Spring, MD. Stephanie is humorous and has a sidekick who does great impressions - sometimes the two are almost as funny as Howard Stern on an average day - plus she is timely, topical, liberal, and doesn't leave me with that queasy feeling and slightly dirty sheen that Stern usually did. Schultz has a great voice - better than Limbaugh's.

To bail or not to bail, that is the question,whether tis nobler for Detroit to sufferThe slings and arrows of outrageously high unemploymentOr to guarantee huge loans against a sea of debt,And by paying them off end them?

With the last of the pots scrubbed and the table wiped down, KRXA Hal looks wistfully at the mopped floor of the dining area. After briefly considering whether to scrub the toilets or snake out the pipes and deciding after serious contemplation that now is not the best time to regrout the bathroom tile, KRXA Hal debates internally whether the Biggest Loser really is more compelling television than Dancin' with the Stars. Since neither is on, KRXA Hal reluctantly boots up his always (sigh) trusty desktop.

[....] Last month, Jared Kushner announced the Administration’s support for the bill in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, writing that the six million Americans in local and federal prisons are included among “the forgotten men and women” that Trump vowed to fight for during his Presidential campaign.. “Get a bill to my desk, and I will sign it,” Trump promised. The House passed the bill this week.

President Trump on Thursday canceled a planned summit next month with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, citing “tremendous anger and open hostility” from the rogue nation in a letter explaining his abrupt decision.

“I feel it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting,” Trump said to Kim in a letter released by the White House on Thursday morning.

The summit had been planned for June 12 in Singapore.

In his letter, Trump held open the possibility that the two leaders could meet at a later date to discuss denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, which Trump has been pushing.

"President Trump’s unprecedented meeting on Monday with the FBI director and deputy attorney general regarding a case in which he is directly involved may turn out to be the defining moment of his presidency and for his party. Bob Bauer at the Lawfare blog writes:

North Korea is threatening to reconsider Kim Jong Un’s participation in a summit with President Trump next month, saying it is up to the United States to decide whether it wants to “meet us at a meeting room or encounter us at nuclear-to-nuclear showdown.”

Stacey Abrams just one the Democratic Gubernatorial race in Georgia by roughly 3:1. She could become the first black and first female Governor of Georgia. It looks like the Republican candidate will be chosen after a runoff election since no one reached 50% of the vote.

Evans argued that Democrats could win by appealing to moderate Republicans. Abrams argued that the party needs to focus on disaffected Democrats. Abrams won. Abrams even won Democrats in northern Georgia with small minority populations.

Kendrick Lamar brought on a white fan onstage to rap along with his song “m.A.A.D. City”. When the fan rapped the song as written, repeating the N-word three times, Lamar halted the performance. He told the fan that she could not use the word. She apologized. He gave her a second chance. She almost rapped the word again, the crowd was not having it. Lamar ushered the fan off stage and continued the performance.

The audience responded negatively to the white fan using the words on stage. She lost the crowd with the first use of the words. Some did point out that she was just rapping the words as written.